Even after months of maintenance and repair, the nitrogenous fertiliser plant in Ninh Binh Province hasn't been able to find solution to its environmental problems or profitability.
Dead fish around Ninh Binh fertiliser plant
Construction on the Vietnam National Chemical Group’s plant started in 2008. However, since the plant went into operation in 2012, it has continually faced losses because low prices and high costs. In March, it was forced to temporarily halt operations.
Vu Van Nhan, director of Ninh Binh fertiliser plant said they had called workers to return to work on June 1 and resumed operations on June 5 after several days of training. Nguyen Van Minh, the plant's deputy director, said the northern and central regions would be their main markets. On the same day, the minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh asked the ministry inspectorate to co-operate with Vietnam National Chemical Group to review the project's investment to find a solution. The plant now can produce 1,300 tonnes of urea per day, about 60% of the plant's designed capacity.
Ninh Binh fertiliser plant
On June 18, the first urea products were completed following the plant’s temporary closure. It is estimated to have cost tens of billions of VND to re-open the plant. According to the plant's report, accumulated losses have reached over VND2trn (USD90m). In the first quarter, world urea fertiliser prices were USD194-255 a tonne, a decrease of USD69 compared to the same period last year. As world prices decrease, many people are taking up the chances to import huge volumes of fertilisers into Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Phu My urea fertiliser plant's in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, one of Vietnam's main fertiliser facilities, has capacity to produce 2.66 million tonnes per year, 2.3 million tonnes higher than the market demand. In May, the world prices increased a little to USD246 a tonne. Ninh Binh fertiliser plant will only see profit if the world price reaches USD300.
Supply higher than demand is not the only concern of Ninh Binh Plant.
In March, the plant was also closed due to serious environmental damage following its discharge of untreated wastewater into the Day River. It was detected that the plant had discharged 5,000 cubic metres of contaminated water per hour and caused mass deaths in fish stock and cattle in the region.
Environmental issues remain a concern even after the repair. Only a few days after the plant was re-opened, the canal surrounding the plant was already polluted with fish dying en mass. The locals have filed complaints to the authorities and reported the cases to news agencies.
